Mobile World Congress 2023 kicks off with new features for Android, Chromebook and Wear OS

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Monday, February 27, 2023

There's another episode out of Inside Startup Battlefield, the podcast mini-documentary getting a behind-the-scenes look at the TechCrunch Disrupt Battlefield. Maggie just dropped the new EP: Getting to know the Battlefield 200. Oh, and if you want to speak at TechCrunch Disrupt, you can apply now to speak! — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Denny Müller / Unsplash

The TechCrunch Top 3 Don't you just love a new feature?: We have a team over in Barcelona for the Mobile World Congress, and one of the top stories coming out of there is the slew of new features Google has announced for Android, Chromebook and Wear OS. We'll let Aisha give you the scoop, but it involves productivity, connectivity and accessibility. You know, the equivalent of the three educational "Rs," but instead for mobile. A reason to wear sunglasses at night: Speaking of Mobile World Congress, Xiaomi unveiled its lightweight AR glasses with a "retina-level" display, Ivan writes. Also, check out Ivan's other Xiaomi story on its 13 Pro flagship. This phone is cool, literally: OnePlus has been on a roll this month with new products, and now today, Brian reports on its gaming concept phone with a glowing liquid cooling feature.

Startups and VC Card collectors often dispute how much their cards are worth. New Jersey–based CollX raises $5.5 million to provide a free iOS and Android app to card enthusiasts that enables them to scan their trading cards and get value in return, Ivan reports. Anthropic, a buzzy AI startup co-founded by ex-OpenAI employees, has begun offering partners access to its AI text-generating models, Kyle reports. The first commercial venture to announce that it's integrating Anthropic models is Robin AI, a legal tech startup that's raised over $13 million. Quora's experimental chatbot app for iOS and Android, Poe, uses Anthropic models, but it's not currently monetized. And we have five more for you: Gotta keep 'em separated: Devin explores how SepPure's nanofilters massively reduce energy cost of industrial separation processes. Evernote layoffs: Bending Spoons recently acquired Evernote, and now it lays off 129 Evernote staffers, Kyle reports. Pahk the Cah, etc.: Ron takes a look at how Boston offers a world of advantages for startup founders. Valuable clouds: Kyle reports how cloud security startup Wiz, now valued at $10 billion, raises $300 million. What are we even paying for?: Spade turns credit card transaction gibberish into clear, actionable data, Christine reports.

Using predictive LTV to juice up marketing campaigns Last fall, Voyantis CEO Ido Wiesenberg shared a TC+ post with several tactics for reducing customer acquisition costs via predictive modeling. In a follow-up, he explains how to use predictive lifetime value (LTV) to create “more targeted, effective acquisition strategies that focus on acquiring and retaining customers.” Adding predictive LTV to decision flows helps identify lucrative customers early in the sales cycle, but it can also shorten underperforming ad campaigns, set performance targets and help teams adjust budgets midstream. Three more from the TC+ team: Making more: Why so many gigafactories? It's not just EVs driving demand, by Tim. Acquiring more: Going private: A guide to PE tech acquisitions writes, by Jeff Laborde. Raising more: Biotech proved a surprisingly bright spot in 2022's startup correction, by Becca. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: ChrisBaynham / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. The hubbub over the weekend was that a new round of Twitter layoffs included Esther Crawford, the chief executive of Twitter payments who oversaw the company's Twitter Blue verification subscription. She had been one of Elon Musk's most public cheerleaders following his acquisition of the social media giant. Rebecca reports that some 50 people were part of the layoffs. And, just when you thought we might get a break from AI chatbots, Aisha writes that Snapchat now has one that is powered by OpenAI's GPT technology. That's right, folks, it's called "My AI" and for $3.99 per month, you too can give it a whirl. Go ahead, ask it for birthday gift ideas for your BFF. And we have five more for you: Thank you for your patience: Dish subscribers are not having a good day. The U.S. satellite television provider was hit by a multiday outage after a reported cyberattack, Carly writes. Losing all self-driving control: Following a recall, Tesla pauses its rollout of Full Self-Driving beta software. Kirsten has more. Don't go breakin' my heart: Lauren reports that Spotify is doing away with the heart button and will instead implement a "plus" sign. Two Pokémon walk into a bar: Amanda writes on a few new Pokémon features, including Pokémon Go's integration with Scarlet and Violet, an update on Pokémon Sleep, and Pokémon’s partnership with Netflix to launch the stop-motion series "Pokémon Concierge." Paired up: Mobile carriers, including AT&T and Verizon Wireless, teamed up with AWS and Microsoft to launch Open Gateway, which Ingrid writes is a set of Twilio-like APIs that will enable these carriers to tap into network services for more development.

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Falling short of analysts' estimates, Warner Bros. Discovery posts $2.1B net loss for Q4 2022

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Friday, February 24, 2023

Folks, we've got some really sad news for you. The weekend is here, which means that you have to stop working for a couple days. We know, it's a tragedy. But don't worry, Monday is only two short weekend days away, and then you can get back to the grindstone. Black History Month continues! Originally published in 1975, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf is a magnificent, passionate, and fearless story of what it meant to be a woman of color in the 20th century.  Well worth a read — or seek it out onstage! Much love and hugs and such, Christine and Haje Image Credits: PM Images / Getty Images

​​The TechCrunch Top 3 Money, money, money…must be funny: Warner Bros. Discovery revealed that it lost another $2.1 billion in the fourth quarter. This is despite the success of shows like "The Last of Us" on HBO and games like "Hogwarts Legacy." Lauren explains more. Fashion layoffs: Secondhand apparel marketplace Poshmark is now laying off employees just two months after being acquired by Naver, Kate reports. Another brick in the wall: Ron explains why a possible U.S. Department of Justice lawsuit over competition could derail the pending $20 billion Adobe-Figma deal.

Startups and VC The truth of the matter is that Mobile World Congress (MWC) was never a consumer tech show, per se, but the participation of various smartphone makers transformed it into a handy launching pad. Brian explores in What we expect from MWC 2021. In the face of conscripted co-founders and blacked-out bunkers, Ukraine’s tech industry marches on. Mike explores how, a year on from Russia's invasion, Ukrainian startups show astounding resilience. And we have five more for you: Pay, pay pay: Telecom giant Airtel eyes a stake in Paytm, by Manish. Buy, buy, buy: Rebuy is out to change the customer buying experience, one personalization at a time, Christine reports. Deb, dev, dev: Alchemy launches a tool that enables devs to start building dApps within 4 minutes, Jacquelyn reports. Ai, ai, AI:  Natasha L reports how Voicemod tools up with $14.5 million to ride the generative AI (sonic)boom. Pic, pic, pic: South Africa's Envisionit Deep AI gets $1.65 million to expand access to medical imaging, reports Annie.

5 questions emerging managers should ask before selecting LPs Before an emerging manager can start backing startups, they’ll first need to earn the trust of limited partners who are willing to bet on their investment thesis. “Each step up the decision-making ladder increases the risk of dismissal, lost information or miscommunication, which can be mitigated if you can get in front of the decision-makers early on,” says Linda Greub, co-founder and managing partner of Avestria Ventures. Drawing from her own experience, Greub shares five questions emerging managers can use “to find the investors most likely to believe in you.” Three more from the TC+ team: Pass the chips: Kate asks, How are global chipmakers preparing for the US-China chip war? RIP, unicorns: Alex wonders, When do we reach the unicorn death cliff? Moar chains: Jacquelyn explores how Coinbase's layer-2 blockchain may help expand scaling on Ethereum. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: Constantin Johnny / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. A new hacker group going by the name CH01 defaced Russian websites to have them display a video of the Kremlin on fire. Lorenzo has more. Google One subscribers can rejoice over this news that they now have access to Google Photos' new AI-powered "Magic Eraser" that will remove unwanted content from images, Sarah reports. We have a treat for you: six stories instead of five: Break on through to the other side…of the world: Get ready, Australia and New Zealand, Meta Verified is coming your way, Ivan reports. Here comes the sun…tech: Kirsten writes that Sono Motors shut down its Sion EV and will instead focus on its solar tech business. Or I will attack, and you don't want that…in your AI: Can AI really be protected from text-based attacks? That's what Kyle wants to find out. Xiaomi killed the video star: Xiaomi, creator of the short-video app Zili, announced it was shutting down in March "due to an operational adjustment," Jagmeet reports. Come together, right now…over e-commerce: Amazon joined an India-backed e-commerce initiative that interestingly enough was challenging the retail giant's seeming monopoly in the market, Manish writes. You can't do that: The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission wrote a letter to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 2nd Circuit in New York stating that Elon Musk still needs a lawyer to approve his tweets. Rebecca has more.

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YouTube rolls out support for dubbing videos in more than 40 languages

TechCrunch Newsletter

By Christine Hall and Haje Jan Kamps Thursday, February 23, 2023

Happy Thursday, landlubbers and salty sea dogs! We've got some fun updates from the events team — Lauren S announced the TechCrunch Early Stage Audience Choice winners. And if you get all starry-eyed and bushy-tailed at the possibility of being on the TechCrunch Disrupt stage for our annual Battlefield, you're hella in luck — Neesha just announced that applications are open for the TechCrunch Startup Battlefield 200!  — Christine and Haje Image Credits: Alexander Shatov / Unsplash

The TechCrunch Top 3 Giving videos a voice: MrBeast was among the first YouTubers to test out a new multilanguage audio feature that is now being rolled out for creators so that they can upload just one video and dub it in dozens of languages. Sarah has more. Hear that?: Samsung wants you to have that crystal-clear smartphone communication in places where there is no cellular network connectivity, so it developed its own satellite-based solution, Ivan writes. “Towns" hall crier: Taylor writes about Houseparty founder Ben Rubin's new open source group chat app called Towns. Built as a decentralized app, it enables people to "build better hometowns on the internet" to "truly own their town squares."

Startups and VC While most VCs will tell you they had no problem raising their newest fund, Volition co-founder Larry Cheng — an alum of Bessemer Venture Partners, Battery Partners and Fidelity Ventures — says that wasn't his experience when trying to raise the firm's latest vehicle. "All of the LPs felt more constrained; we could feel it," reports Connie. The cloud is growing expensive. More than half of companies say that their spending on public cloud apps will increase in 2023 while 56% expect their public cloud infrastructure services spending will go up this year. ProsperOps raises $72 million to help, Kyle reports. And we have five more for you: Continuously, cheaper: Earthly wants to reinvent continuous integration to make it faster and cheaper, Ron reports. What private jet?: Logistics startup Slync raises $24 million, attempts to distance itself from disgraced founder, Kyle reports. The final account-down: Mary Ann reports that Trust & Will secures $15 million after doubling revenue. We can barely contain ourselves: BlueCargo reduces logistics late fees by tracking containers in port terminals, reports Romain. Raising? More like r-AI-sing, amirite: Source.ag raises $23 million to raise the bar on raising crops with AI, Haje reports.

Is ocean conservation the next climate tech? 7 investors explain why they're all in Seafaring industries like fishing and oil exploration are inherently extractive, but technological advances and increased environmental awareness have ushered in a new era. “Founders and investors have started to look for opportunities to conserve, and even enhance, the ocean's resources rather than exploit them,” reports Tim De Chant. He interviewed seven investors to examine some of the parallels between climate tech and ocean conservation tech and learn more about the opportunities they’re diving for: Tim Agnew, general partner, Bold Ocean Ventures Peter Bryant, program director (oceans), Builders Initiative Kate Danaher, managing director (oceans and seafood), S2G Ventures Daniela V. Fernandez, founder and CEO, Sustainable Ocean Alliance (Seabird Ventures) Rita Sousa, partner, Faber Ventures Christian Lim, managing director, SWEN Blue Ocean Partners Reece Pacheco, partner, Propeller Three more from the TC+ team: Alex is back! Alex is back!: Unity's earnings show just how hard it is to earn a 10x software multiple today, by Alex. Cutting with kindness: Leslie Crowe discusses how you can make layoffs suck less, including how to announce job cuts and retain top performers. Goin' retro, with a 15-year-old pitch deck: Pitch Deck Teardown: Uber's $200K pre-seed deck from 2008, by Haje. TechCrunch+ is our membership program that helps founders and startup teams get ahead of the pack. You can sign up here. Use code "DC" for a 15% discount on an annual subscription! Read More Image Credits: Douglas Klug / Getty Images

Big Tech Inc. Did you know that the average household subscribes to five streaming services per month? No doubt this can quickly add up. Netflix has read the writing on the wall and lowered its prices in over 100 territories across Africa, Europe, Latin America and Asia Pacific in efforts to keep subscribers…subscribing, Lauren writes. Developers of decentralized apps have a new friend in Coinbase, which launched Base, an Ethereum-focused layer to aid in development of the apps on the blockchain. Jacquelyn has more. And we have five more for you: What happens when a tech company does something cool?: You want more! Everyone was all excited about yesterday's news about the Spotify DJ feature, and today, Spotify is bringing news that it is testing playlists that could be unlocked by NFT holders. Ivan explains more. What happens when it's not a match?: A Mozilla study found that some popular Android apps' Play Store privacy labels don't match up to their claims of the data they collect, Ivan reports. What happens when you see a better opportunity?: Walmart sold Moosejaw to Dick's Sporting Goods after acquiring the e-commerce outdoor retailer in 2017, Aisha reports. What happens in the pursuit of interoperability?: Linux Foundation Europe launches the OpenWallet Foundation to power interoperable digital wallets, Paul writes. What happens when you accidentally hit the wrong button?: Pornhub's banned Instagram account is reinstated by accident. Amanda has more.

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